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Highlights From Environics March 2023 Survey of Canadian Gun Owners

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TheGunBlog.ca — Following are key points from a survey this year of Canadian gun owners by Environics Research Group.

Survey Snapshot

  • Contract Name: Buyback Program Awareness Campaign: Final Report
  • By: Environics Research Group
  • For: Canada’s Department of Public Safety (which is overseeing the confiscation effort)
  • Survey Method: 15-Minute Online Survey of Self-Selected Gun Owners (Non-Random)
  • Number of Gun Owners Who Responded: 2,000
  • Contract Date: 01 September 2022
  • Final Report: 31 March 2023
  • Cost: $158,856.08

Comment

  • We’re skeptical of the accuracy of some responses.
  • We still find the responses offer interesting trend indicators.

Highlights

1. Self-Defence Is a Main Reason to Own Guns

  • It’s time for anti-gun activists to stop spreading the lie that having firearms and ammo for self-defence is unlawful, or that self-defence is unCanadian.

2. Own More Than 5 Guns? You’re In the Top 7%

  • Maybe they meant: “How many firearm safes do you currently own?”

3. One-Fourth of Gun Owners Don’t Have a PAL

  • Only 74% of gun owners have a valid, up-to-date PAL.
  • More than 25% of gun owners: Expired PAL, never got a PAL, out of date info, etc.
  • The licensing system has cost billions of dollars and is largely a failure.

4. One-Third of Gun Owners Are Targeted by the Liberal+RCMP Attacks

  • Based on estimates of 3 million gun owners (with and without PAL), the confiscations could target 1 million adults, far higher than previously estimated.

5. More Gun Owners Are Refusing to Surrender Their Gear

  • The percentage of respondents refusing to surrender their guns almost doubled from 2022 to 2023, from 7% to 12%.
  • The percentage of respondents who agreed with the statement “Nothing would motivate me to participate” almost tripled from 2022 to 2023, from 7% to 20%.

6. Why Gun Owners Say ‘No’ to Confiscation

7. Some Gun Owners Are Anti-Gun

  • 20% of gun owners believe owners of manual-action rifles and shotguns should be criminalized. Really?

Less than half of those owners with prohibited firearms would now willingly participate in a buyback program …

Environics Survey

8. Three Quotes

  • “There has been a significant decline over the past year in the proportion of firearm owners who may own newly prohibited firearms who say they would willingly participate in a buyback program.” (Page 29)
  • “Most firearm owners believe that almost all types of firearms should be legal in most cases. A plurality now believes that semi-automatic handguns should be illegal in all or most cases.” (Page 15)
  • ”Most firearms owners had at least a passing familiarity with the ban …, however, those who used their guns infrequently were less likely to know about these regulatory changes.” (Page iv)

9. Liberals Are Preparing Misleading Ads

  • The Liberals are preparing ads to deceive gun owners into believing the forced confiscations are a “buyback.”

Environics Survey Report (PDF)

Source: Publications Canada

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